Meaning of pay one's dues | Babel Free

Definitions

1. To outlay money which is owed as a membership fee or price of admission.
2. To acquire status or to earn the right to enjoy certain benefits, especially through lengthy experience, hardship, or service to an organization.
   idiomatic

Examples

“The carrier to Casterbridge came up as Edward stepped into the road, and jumped down from the van to pay toll. . . . The carrier paid his dues.”

“Everybody wanna know / Why I'm singing the blues / Yes, I've been around a long time / People, I've paid my dues”

“[S]he spent some time paying her dues at entry-level jobs.”

“He too championed the anti-apartheid cause, paid his dues, had his works banned.”

“[Josephine Baker] paid her dues in a touring chorus line, and gradually attracted attention for making funny faces, and was rewarded with a respectable third-banana speaking part in the authors' next show, and got some more attention, and so on.”

CEFR level